TITLE: An Unnecessarily Complicated (yet Grand) Day Out
NAME: Greg M. Johnson
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: gregj56590@aol.com
WEBPAGE: http://www.geocities.com/pterandon/index.html
TOPIC: Unnecessarily Complicated Devices
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
RENDERER USED: MegaPov 0.7a
TOOLS USED: 1) Modeller: "Povray, the Raytracer, Not a Modeller."  2) CorelDream3D used with stock models to make adventure magazine cover art.
CREATION TIME: about 2 days of rendering
HARDWARE USED: Aptiva w/ 1.0 GHz Athlon chip
ANIMATION DESCRIPTION:
I am deeply inspired by Nick Park's work, especially the early stuff.   I like the beginning of "A Grand Day Out," where he and Gromit are looking at vacation brochures (for earthly destinations) and then decide, "I know, Gromit, we'll go where there's cheese."   This animation is my twist on a scene like this considering the title "Unnecessarily Complicated Devices."  I suppose I *did* invent a new device: the monocycle: who really needs a seat?
DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED:
I have a file that I've been working on for a human character modelled with blobs using "Povray, the Raytracer, Not a Modeller." (Considerable improvements occurred during the contest period, notably in clothing.) I developed an algorithm for blinking while reading a book.  I added an algorithm I had for riding a monocycle.

The first scene has about 41 lights and renders painfully slow.  (I made a mistake with camera angles on my last render but hey the deadline is here.)